Moogle Madness
by Lanerose
Summary: Yuna wasn't smiling. That was how the whole mess started, anyway. TidusYuna.


**Moogle Mayhem**

Yuna wasn't smiling.

That was how the whole mess started, anyways. She was sitting by edge of the campfire, knees drawn to her chest. The light was dim over there, and she just sat there looking off into the forest, eyes shining like she was going to cry. Tidus couldn't just leave her like that. He walked over to her and dropped down onto the ground beside her.

"So…" he said, leaning back on his hands so that he could look up at the sky more easily. The night above them was clear, not a cloud in sight. Yuna turned to look at him, and Tidus glanced back in time to catch her. "If you could be anywhere in the world but here right now, where would it be?"

She smiled, and laughed a little, shaking her head. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh."

"Sure. Okay." He nodded, and raised his left hand while placing his right hand over his heart. "Whatever you say, I won't laugh."

"Well…" Yuna stared for a moment at her hands, clasped in her lap, before looking back at Tidus. The firelight flickered across her face. "I'd be back in my bed in Besaid, curled up in a ball around my stuffed moogle."

Tidus looked away, face and shoulders tightening. Yuna whacked him lightly between the shoulders.

"You promised you wouldn't laugh!"

"I'm sorry." Tidus said, chuckling a bit as he turned back to her. "I just never really took you as one for stuffed animals."

She blushed. They sat together quietly for a moment, orange-yellow light and warmth rolling over them from the fire. Auron and Kimahri had already gone to bed, but Wakka and Lulu were still awake, sitting companionably beside each other on a log across the fire from Tidus and Yuna. Looking at Lulu, a smile stole across Tidus's face. He grabbed Yuna's arm.

"I've got a great idea!" he whispered. Yuna turned, eyes wide. Tidus pointed discreetly towards the spot where his fellow guardians were seated. "Do you see what I see?"

Yuna followed the path of his arm. Beyond the fire, Wakka and Lulu were talking about something, quietly enough that their voices wouldn't carry on the wind. Lulu was shaking her head and looking annoyed as Wakka's gesticulations got bigger by the moment. Nothing out of the ordinary, really. She turned back to Tidus and shook her head.

"Just Lulu and Wakka," she said. "Why?"

"You're missing it!" Tidus shook his head vehemently. "There, look! On the ground! It's right beside Lulu."

Yuna turned back to Lulu, looked down, and sure enough –

"Oh my! I never even thought of that!"

The attack moogle Lulu used lay harmlessly on the ground beside her, waiting to be called into battle as soon as it was needed. Without magic controlling it, though, the small cream-colored creature could just as easily have been her stuffed moogle from back home. Yuna's eyes lit up.

"What do you think?" Tidus asked, glance flickering back and forth between Yuna and the doll. "Should we steal it?"

"Steal it!" Yuna's voice rose in volume and Tidus quickly shushed her as Lulu and Wakka glanced over at them. She blushed again, shaking her head. "I'm sure Lulu would let me borrow it, but that's really not-"

"Aww, c'mon, where's the fun in that?" Tidus jumped to his feet. He reached down and offered her his hand. Yuna took it without a second thought, rising to join him. "Tell you what – I'll distract them while you grab it."

"Me?!" She pulled back, stopping. Tidus, feeling the resistance in her as he tried to keep dragging her forwards, paused and turned back to her. She shook her head, but he smiled. Yuna's heart skipped a beat.

"C'mon, I betcha we can do it, no problem!" He tugged lightly on her right arm. Yuna stayed back a moment more, left hand drawn against her chest, before she allowed it to drop and followed him, laughing.

Lulu and Wakka were watching them long before they got within range to hear what the older two had been talking about. The mage and the blitzer stopped chatting and waited patiently as their friends approached, Tidus dragging a still giggling Yuna along behind him.

"What?" Lulu asked as the pair paused before them. Tidus stood directly in front of them, blocking the fire from view. Yuna, on Tidus's left, stepped further to the side and closer to Lulu as she tried control her amusement. Something strange was going on here.

"Isn't it a great night tonight?" Tidus asked, laughing at them a little more loudly than necessary. Lulu and Wakka exchanged a glance before looking back at Tidus. Yuna, meanwhile, edged subtly closer to Lulu. "We were just talking about – uh – geography, and that got me thinking, boy, I really don't know anything about where we're going at all. And Lulu, since you usually tell us all about – um – that stuff, I figured you'd be a good person to ask, right?"

Lulu blinked up at Tidus, who was swinging his arms and shifting a bit on his feet. "We're going to D'jose, remember? And it's easy – we just follow the path. Why are you –"

A flash of cream-colored fur caught the corner of her eye. Lulu started to turn around –

"OH YEAH!" Tidus exclaimed. Lulu's attention snapped back to him. "That's right, the temple at D'jose! How could we have forgotten that, huh, Yuna?"

"Yes," Yuna said, standing back closer to the fire, her arms behind her back, "that was quite silly of us."

"Guess we'd better let you guys get back to your conversation there. Uh… thanks, bye!" Tidus grabbed Yuna, turning her and quickly stepping behind her as they walked away. When Tidus waved over his shoulder at them, he could see Lulu and Wakka exchanging puzzled glances.

On the other side of the fire, back on the edges of the light, the two dropped back onto the ground. Yuna took a deep breath, cuddling the moogle close against her chest. She looked up, and her eyes met Tidus's. For a moment they stared at each other, before bursting into simultaneous laughter.

"Told you that would be better," Tidus managed through his snorts of amusement, ducking his head between his knees before leaning back again.

"You're right, it was." Yuna said. At last the fit of giggles wore off. Tidus watched Yuna rub her cheek against the top of the moogle's soft fluffy head before looking up at the stars. He turned to her again only when her warm hand landed on top of his. Her eyes as she looked at him were soft, and if not happy, at least free of tears. "Thanks."

He smiled. "Any time."


End file.
